I am certain that the Holy Spirit spoke to you as you meditated on yesterday’s Scriptures and I am excited to see what is going to transpire in the lives of those who walk on this journey into truth with me. For the next several days we are going to look at Paul’s insight and instruction from 1 Corinthians 13 and investigate what love truly is and what it is not so we gain a better understanding of what we are called to do as disciples of Jesus Christ. I am not going to candy coat anything I present in this series because as I have said in the past I am not here to tickle the ears of the hearer or please man. I stand before only one I am here to please and His name is Jesus Christ.
So let’s begin. I am going to break down this passage of Scripture and focus on each verse in order for us to gain a better understanding of how it applies to us today as disciples of Jesus. In verse one Paul says, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.” This is quite a bold statement to begin the message of love with but it is obvious from his tone that Paul wanted to get his point across in regards to love without being misunderstood or misinterpreted. Have you ever listened to sounding brass instruments or clanging cymbals? It is not a comforting sound! In fact if you listen to it long enough it would drive you crazy and eventually cause you to experience hearing loss.
I understand what Paul is saying because I speak with tongues of men and angels, but until I understood my responsibility to love first before I speak; no one wanted to listen to anything I had to say and my words were more like sounding brass and clanging cymbals. My words had no power, no impact, and no effect on the hearers, except to make them want to tune me out and get away from me! But when I learned to accept God’s unconditional love for me, love myself unconditionally, and love others with that same love; my words became life to the hearer, medicine to the sick, and hope to the seeker. If you ask anyone who knew the former me and who know me now they would attest to the fact that this is true.
Here is what I discovered during this process of transformation. It doesn’t matter how much you know or how fluent you are in the gifts, if you do not show the love of Jesus Christ; peoples live will NOT change when you operate in those gifts and your life will NOT produce lasting fruit! People do NOT care how much you know until they know how much you care! Have you ever really studied how Jesus approached people and how He interacted with them? He had every right to show up on the scene and announce who He was and use His power and gifts from the Holy Spirit instantly to do what He needed to do, but He didn’t! He showed LOVE FIRST, then He listened to the Father tell Him what to do, and then He met the needs of the people He ministered to with that power and those gifts.
Why do so many people think that somehow they are greater than Jesus and given permission by God to operate differently than He did? That is called boastful pride! I see so many people who operate in the gifts, hold a ministry position, or who call themselves Christians and they do not show the love of Jesus Christ to the people around them. The branches of their lives do not display the fruit of the Spirit. They adhere to the doctrines of man-made religion and operate from a judgmental mindset without realizing the damaging effects of their words and actions. I can speak about this so boldly because I was one of those people and it is only by the grace of God and my willingness to listen to His instruction that I am not one today. It is my incredible love for the body of Christ and the unsaved world that is motivating me to write about this subject because I know that unless we become Christ-minded and of one accord with Him nothing is going to change.
We have to realize that showing the love of Jesus Christ to everyone in our lives and those we come in contact with first; will open the door for us to introduce them to the Great Physician who can heal them of all diseases, from unbelief to physical illness! But in order for this to happen we have to be willing to allow Great Physician to cure us of the diseases of man-made religion that adheres to the Law and judgmental attitudes that elevate us above everyone else. When our minds are fixed on allowing Christ’s love to work in us and flow from us our hearts are softened to the needs of the people and our spirits are receptive to the instruction of the Father in how to meet those needs. Then as love flows from us the power of God is released and we are able to minister to them effectively.
Tomorrow we will go even deeper in our study together and I am excited to see what God is going to do in all of us and I can’t wait to hear your testimonies. I am already witnessing a move of God in my life as I apply everything the Lord is giving me to share. In fact yesterday I was speaking to a woman who had been turned off by Christianity because of the horrible experience she had with Christians who were more interested in shoving doctrine down her throat and judging her by her actions. She said, “You are different! I can trust you because I can sense the love you have for me and the words you speak are powerful and I have changed my life because of them.” I know and you know that she is changing her life because of God’s love and words that are flowing through me, but unless I was willing to accept them for myself I could have never shared them with others. This is the power of God at work! Blessings to you as you go about your day and may God grant you wisdom and revelation as you seek Him with all your heart!
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